Note for Guidance
The Fire Safety Advice Centre
Theatres and Cinemas
General
It is important to understand that more than one piece of fire safety legislation and/or fire safety guidance can be applied to any individual premises. For instance take a school the The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 applies and there could be others. Fire Safety guidance documents including Guide 5 - Educational premises, Guide 1 - Offices and shops, Guide 6 - Small and medium places of assembly or Guide 7 - Large places of assembly may apply and if the school is a boarding school then Guide 3 - Sleeping accommodation could apply.
Legislation
Fire Safety in new and altered Offices is subject to the Building Regulations and the guidence for fire matters are dealt with by Approved Document Part B Fire Safety. Within that document appendix G and H there is a list, of other guidence documents that may be relevant.
When premises are occupied fire precautions are controlled by The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. and this order lays down legal requirements, check them out at the above link.
Fire Safety Guide for England and Wales
The most appropriate guide for Theatres and cinemas is likely to be Guide
8 - Theatres and cinemas and can be downloaded at the Department
of Communities and Local Government web site. This guide is for all employers,
managers, occupiers and owners, both professional and amateur, of theatres,
cinemas, concert halls and similar premises. It tells you what you have
to do to comply with fire safety law, helps you to carry out a fire risk
assessment and identify the general fire precautions you need to have
in place. This guide is intended for premises where the main use of the
building or part of the
building is a theatre, cinema, concert hall or combination of these. As
well as purpose built premises, this incudes buildings converted for use
as cinemas or theatres. For temporary structures and marquees/tents used
as a theatre or cinema, reference should be made to the
guides for places of assembly. For theatres, cinemas, concert
halls and similar premises that are part of educational
facilities or shopping complexes, or include sleeping accommodation, other
places of assembly and/or outdoor facilities, reference should also be
made to the guide for these premises. This guide may also be suitable
where the premises adjoin other complexes, such as shopping centres, where
consultation with the centre managers will be necessary as part of an
integrated risk assessment for the complex.
Also, where you handle and store flammable materials and substances, this
guide will help you take account of these in your risk assessment and
help you determine the necessary precautions to take to minimise the likelihood
of them being involved in a fire.
It has been written to provide guidance for a responsible person, to
help them to carry out a fire risk assessment in less complex premises.
If you read the guide and decide that you are unable to apply the guidance,
then you should seek expert advice from a competent person. More complex
premises will probably need to be assessed by a person who has comprehensive
training or experience in fire risk assessment. However, this guide can
be used for multi-occupied buildings to address fire safety
issues within their individual occupancies.
Fire safety is only one of many safety issues which management must address
to minimise the risk of injury or death to staff or the public. Unlike
most of the other safety concerns, fire has the potential to injure or
kill large numbers of people very quickly. This guidance is concerned
only with fire safety but many of the measures discussed here will impact
upon other safety issues, and vice versa; it is recognised that these
various differing safety demands can sometimes affect one another and
management should consult other interested agencies (e.g. Local Authority)
where necessary to confirm that they are not contravening other legislation/guidance.
This handout provides a general overview and basic information on this topic. It may not apply to everyone, consequently to find out if this guide applies to you and to get more information on this subject, study all the relevant legislation, guides and British/European Standards. Also you should seek advice from an expert on the subject or your local Fire Safety Officer or Fire Safety Professional.
Merseyside Fire Liaison Panel. Permission is granted to print and photocopy this material for nonprofit educational uses.
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This page was last checked and modified on Monday, 24 March, 2008 22:53
